A known brake assembly often found on aircraft comprises a stack of interleaved disks. One set of disks is mounted to a fixed support in a spaced manner and forms the stators of the brake assembly. A second set of disks is mounted to rotate with a wheel and extend into the spaces between the stators; these disks comprise the rotors of the brake assembly. One or more pistons are provided for pressing a stator at one end of this disk stack to force the rotors and stators into frictional engagement to slow the wheel to which the rotors are attached.
Such rotors and stators may be formed from steel or, alternately, from materials referred to as “carbon-carbon composites.” Carbon-carbon composites are preferred for some applications due to their ability to withstand higher temperatures than steel, their lower weight and their high specific heat capacity. Currently, to produce a carbon-carbon composite brake component, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process is generally used to densify a preform of carbon fibers, or a porous carbon-carbon composite. Such CVD processes require high temperatures and can be extremely time consuming and expensive. Known manufacturing methods may require months of process time for certain disk configurations, especially for relatively thick rotor and stator disks. This process therefore uses a significant amount of energy and can require long lead times for part production. Additionally, once the final carbon-carbon material is produced, a significant amount of machining is often required to produce the desired final geometry. Large amounts of machining result in wasted material as well worn machine tool parts. It would therefore be desirable to provide a brake disk and method of producing the same that is faster and less expensive to produce than a standard carbon-carbon composite brake disk.